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Grand Designs

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Grand Designs
Presented byKevin McCloud
Theme music composerDavid Lowe
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series20
No. of episodes159 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time60 minutes
Production companiesTalkback (1999–2006)
Talkback Thames (2006–11)
Boundless (2012–20)
Naked Television (2021–)
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release29 April 1999 (1999-04-29) –
present
Related
Kevin McCloud's Man Made Home

Grand Designs is a British television series that has broadcast on Channel 4 since 29 April 1999 and is presented by Kevin McCloud.

Format

Episodes generally follow a regular format, with small variations depending on the progress of the build. At the beginning of an episode, McCloud meets the clients embarking on the project; he visits the site with them, and discusses the plans for the building. A computer visualisation or computer-aided design view of the intended project is shown. Once ground work commences, he visits the site periodically, following the build progress, noting any changes, hitches or delays; the build frequently runs over budget and completes later than scheduled. McCloud will often do a piece to camera concentrating on any unique materials or features in the house. He visits again once the building is made watertight, and the first and second fixes have commenced. He makes a final visit to the site in its finished or near-finished state, once the occupants have moved in. A tour of the house is then given; McCloud brings the episode to a close summarising the house, its construction, and his opinions.

If a house is not completed before filming finishes, it will sometimes be revisited in a later episode. In more recent series, McCloud revisits past unfinished builds once they have been completed and may stay overnight.

The properties featured in Grand Designs are hugely varied in style and design, from underground homes to converted water towers to buildings constructed in methods of sustainable architecture; the only common factor is that they are all unusual or extravagant. The most popular programme of the series for both Kevin McCloud and viewers was Ben Law's home with a sweet chestnut frame made from his own woodland, and costing very little.[1] This was broadcast as episode 3 of series 3.[2]

Episodes

Main article: List of Grand Designs episodes
SeriesEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
18[3]29 April 1999 (1999-04-29)24 June 1999 (1999-06-24)
28[3]17 July 2001 (2001-07-17)4 September 2001 (2001-09-04)
38[3]12 February 2003 (2003-02-12)1 October 2003 (2003-10-01)
47[3]21 January 2004 (2004-01-21)10 March 2004 (2004-03-10)
520[3]6 April 2005 (2005-04-06)16 May 2007 (2007-05-16)
67[3]16 January 2008 (2008-01-16)2 April 2008 (2008-04-02)
78[3]28 January 2009 (2009-01-28)8 April 2009 (2009-04-08)
88[3]15 September 2010 (2010-09-15)3 November 2010 (2010-11-03)
97[3]14 September 2011 (2011-09-14)26 October 2011 (2011-10-26)
108[3]12 September 2012 (2012-09-12)7 November 2012 (2012-11-07)
119[3]4 September 2013 (2013-09-04)30 October 2013 (2013-10-30)
127[3]3 September 2014 (2014-09-03)15 October 2014 (2014-10-15)
137[3]9 September 2015 (2015-09-09)21 October 2015 (2015-10-21)
148[3]21 September 2016 (2016-09-21)17 November 2016 (2016-11-17)
158[3]6 September 2017 (2017-09-06)25 October 2017 (2017-10-25)
166[3]19 September 2018 (2018-09-19)24 October 2018 (2018-10-24)
176[3]4 September 2019 (2019-09-04)9 October 2019 (2019-10-09)
185[3]6 January 2021 (2021-01-06)3 February 2021 (2021-02-03)
197[3]1 September 2021 (2021-09-01)13 October 2021 (2021-10-13)
207[3]31 August 2022 (2022-08-31)12 October 2022 (2022-10-12)
21TBC[3]27 September 2023 (2023-09-27)TBA


Spin-offs

Grand Designs Indoors (2001)

No.TitleLocationOriginal air date
1"The Former Electricity Sub-Station"Sunderland1 March 2001 (2001-03-01)
(Revisited: 22 October 2003)
2"The Barbican Flat"London8 March 2001 (2001-03-08)
3"The Dilapidated Georgian House"London15 March 2001 (2001-03-15)
(Revisited: 17 September 2002)
4"The Half-Timbered Cottage"Cheltenham22 March 2001 (2001-03-22)
5"The Shaker Style Summer House and Thames Houseboat"Devon & London29 March 2001 (2001-03-29)
6"The Regency Home"Brighton5 April 2001 (2001-04-05)

Grand Designs Abroad (2004)

No.TitleLocationOriginal air date
1"Modernist Villa"Málaga, Spain8 September 2004 (2004-09-08)
(Revisited: 6 November 2013)
2"House from Straw"Lot, France15 September 2004 (2004-09-15)
(Revisited: 1 December 2010)
3"Masseria Impisi: An Artists' Retreat"Puglia, Italy22 September 2004 (2004-09-22)
(Revisited: 27 February 2008)
4"19th Century Manor House"Creuse, France29 September 2004 (2004-09-29)
(Revisited: 3 May 2006)
(2nd Revisit: 22 October 2014)
5"Church Conversion"Ireland6 October 2004 (2004-10-06)
6"The Tuscan Castle"Tuscany, Italy13 October 2004 (2004-10-13)
(Revisited: 9 May 2007)
7"300 Year Old Chalet"Les Gets, France20 October 2004 (2004-10-20)
(Revisited: 10 May 2006)
8"Florida Villa"Alicante, Spain27 October 2004 (2004-10-27)

Grand Designs Trade Secrets (2007–08)

Series 1 (2007)

No.TitleLocationOriginal air date
1"The 14th Century Castle"Skipton, North Yorkshire28 February 2007 (2007-02-28)
2"The Thatched Cottage"Hampshire7 March 2007 (2007-03-07)
3"The Eco-Barge"Medway14 March 2007 (2007-03-14)
4"The Bournemouth Penthouse"Bournemouth21 March 2007 (2007-03-21)
5"The Eco-House: Revisited" (Revisited from Series 5: Episode 11)Carmarthen, Wales28 March 2007 (2007-03-28)
6"The Birmingham Church"Tipton, Birmingham4 April 2007 (2007-04-04)
7"The Art Deco House"Guildford11 April 2007 (2007-04-11)
8"The Sliding Glass Roof House: Revisited" (Revisited from Series 5: Episode 2)Peckham, London18 April 2007 (2007-04-18)
9"The Oak-Framed House: Revisited" (Revisited from Series 4: Episode 7)Argyll, Scotland25 April 2007 (2007-04-25)
10"The Cambridgeshire Eco Home"Cambridgeshire Fens2 May 2007 (2007-05-02)
11"The Tuscan Castle: Revisited" (Revisited from Grand Designs Abroad)Tuscany, Italy9 May 2007 (2007-05-09)
12"The Glass & Timber House"Dulwich, London16 May 2007 (2007-05-16)

Series 2 (2008)

No.TitleLocationOriginal air date
1"The Underground House"Cheltenham16 January 2008 (2008-01-16)
2"The Decagon House"Oxford23 January 2008 (2008-01-23)
3"The Modernist Sugar Cube"Bristol30 January 2008 (2008-01-30)
4"The Gothic House"Hereford6 February 2008 (2008-02-06)
5"The Lime Kiln House"Midlothian13 February 2008 (2008-02-13)
6"The Bath Kit House"Bath20 February 2008 (2008-02-20)
7"Masseria Impisi: An Artists' Retreat"Puglia, Italy27 February 2008 (2008-02-27)
8"The Wooden Box"Peterborough5 March 2008 (2008-03-05)
9"Customised German Kit House"Surrey12 March 2008 (2008-03-12)
10"The Victorian Threshing Barn"Surrey19 March 2008 (2008-03-19)
11"The Underground House"Cumbria26 March 2008 (2008-03-26)
12"The Hi Tech Bungalow"Maidstone2 April 2008 (2008-04-02)
Architect Richard Paxton

Kevin's Grand Design (2011)

No.TitleLocationOriginal air date
1"Kevin's Grand Design: The Great British Property Scandal" (Part 1)Swindon8 December 2011 (2011-12-08)
2"Kevin's Grand Design: The Great British Property Scandal Part 2" (Part 2)Swindon15 December 2011 (2011-12-15)

Grand Designs Living in... (2015)

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"...the City"9 July 2015 (2015-07-09)
2"...the Wild"16 July 2015 (2015-07-16)
3"...Suburbia"23 July 2015 (2015-07-23)
4"...the Country"30 July 2015 (2015-07-30)

Kevin's Grandest Design (2019)

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"Kevin's Grandest Design"28 August 2019 (2019-08-28)
Kevin McCloud revisits his favourite projects from the past twenty years.[4]

Grand Designs: The Streets (2019–23)

McCloud[5] follows ten households constructing their own homes, on a plot of ex-Ministry of Defence land,[6] as part of creating a new street in a self-build project, Graven Hill near Bicester in Oxfordshire.[7] Aired in the first half of 2019 on Channel 4. Two more series have been commissioned.[8]

Series 1 (2019)

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"Terry & Olwen and Lynn"4 April 2019 (2019-04-04)
2"Jack & Hannah and James & Shannon"11 April 2019 (2019-04-11)
3"Paul & Blanka"18 April 2019 (2019-04-18)
4"Chris & Roxie and Peter & Anita"25 April 2019 (2019-04-25)
5"Sean & Dianna and Garrie & Sue"2 May 2019 (2019-05-02)
6"Pauline & Godfrey"9 May 2019 (2019-05-09)

Series 2 (2022)

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"Carlos & Maite"13 April 2022 (2022-04-13)
2"Vineet & Simmi and Prabhjot & Shalini"20 April 2022 (2022-04-20)
3"John & Julia"27 April 2022 (2022-04-27)
4"Joanna & Ben"4 May 2022 (2022-05-04)
5"Leah & Craig and Jitinder"11 May 2022 (2022-05-11)

Series 3 (2023)

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"Nicola & Gareth and Matt & Maryellen"16 May 2023 (2023-05-16)
2"Tim and Jitinder"23 May 2023 (2023-05-23)
3"Jane & Richard"30 May 2023 (2023-05-30)
4"Tom & Lori"6 June 2023 (2023-06-06)
5"Jonathan"13 June 2023 (2023-06-13)
6"Karen and William"23 June 2023 (2023-06-23)
7"TBC"TBC

International versions

hosted by Chris Moller for its first six seasons, premiered on 4 October 2015 in New Zealand on TV3. The first season consisted of 8 x 60 minutes episodes.[10][11] The second season premiered on 25 September 2016 and also consisted of 8 x 60 minutes episodes.[12] A third season of eight episodes aired in 2017.[13]
  • Grand Designs Sweden (2020)[14]
  • Grand Designs Finland (2022)[15]

DVDs

The original Grand Designs series has been released on DVD in the United Kingdom, however the DVD series numbers do not match the television series as some houses are excluded, and the DVDs do not include "revisited" episodes, where there is only a few minutes of new footage. Instead, the new footage from these episodes is included as an extra on the older DVDs.

DVD Series Number of disks Release date
Grand Designs: The Complete Series 1 two-disc set 2 September 2009
Grand Designs: The Complete Series 2 two-disc set 30 September 2009
Grand Designs: The Complete Series 3 two-disc set 5 November 2009
Grand Designs: Series 4 two-disc set 19 March 2009
Grand Designs: Series 5 five-disc set 6 August 2009
Grand Designs: Series 6 two-disc set 1 April 2010
Grand Designs: Series 7 two-disc set 7 August 2010
Grand Designs: Series 8 two-disc set 5 September 2011
Grand Designs: Series 9 two-disc set 15 October 2012
Grand Designs: Series 10 two-disc set 30 September 2013

The Australian release of the original Grand Designs series differs from the UK releases, in that they do not include any "revisited" footage at all.

DVD Series Number of disks Release date
Grand Designs Australia: Series 1[16] three-disc set 4 August 2011

Exhibition

Grand Designs Live ambassadors Jo Hamilton and George Clarke compete in a 'cook-off'

Grand Designs Live takes place biannually, in London in the spring and in Birmingham in the autumn. The exhibitions display contemporary design and technology for the home and garden, with stands for suppliers and manufacturers to promote their goods and services. Design and media personalities McCloud, George Clarke and Jo Hamilton are show ambassadors.

The nine-day Grand Designs Live 2008 event, held at London's ExCeL, attracted over 100,000 visitors. To accompany the event Channel 4 broadcast two live daily programmes directly from the show, Grand Designs Live: Today and Grand Designs Live.

Grand Designs Live launched in Australia in Sydney on 21–23 October 2011.[17] It launched in Melbourne on 21–23 September 2012 and returned to Sydney on 5–7 October 2012.[needs update][18]

Awards and nominations

The programme has been nominated a number of times in the BAFTA Features category and won in 2015.[19]

Year Award Category Recipient Results Ref.
2000 BAFTA TV Awards Features Daisy Goodwin, John Silver Nominated [19]
2004 John Silver, Daisy Goodwin, Kevin McCloud Nominated [19]
2008 BAFTA TV Craft Awards Director – Factual Livia Russell Nominated [19]
2013 BAFTA TV Awards Features Production Team Nominated [20]
2014 Kevin McCloud, Fiona Caldwell, Rob Gill, John Lonsdale Nominated [21]
2015 Production Team Won [22]

Pop culture references

Irish singer Orla Gartland referenced the show in her song "Heavy" with the lyric "I just wanna hang with you and watch Grand Designs".

In The IT Crowd episode Bad Boys, Moss shoplifts several copies of the same Grand Design DVD from a mall store.

References

  1. ^ Sarah Lonsdale. "Kevin McCloud: Most Grand Designs are too big and too bright". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  2. ^ "Grand Designs – Episode Guide – All 4". www.channel4.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Grand Designs UK". Fremantle. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  4. ^ "Kevin's Grandest Design". Grand Designs. Archived from the original on 3 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Kevin McCloud picks his Grand Designs: The Street highlights".
  6. ^ Kelly, Guy (4 April 2019). "What happened when 10 Grand Designs were built on one street". telegraph.co.uk.
  7. ^
  8. ^
  9. ^ Lifestylechannel.com.au Archived 2 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Grand Designs New Zealand". Architecture Now. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  11. ^ "Grand Designs NZ". Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  12. ^ "Grand Designs New Zealand: Complete Episode List". thetvdb.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  13. ^ "Grand Designs New Zealand - All 4". www.channel4.com.
  14. ^
  15. ^ "Grand Designs Suomi".
  16. ^ "Grand Designs Australia Now on DVD! – Lifestyle Channel". Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  17. ^ "Grand Designs Australia Live Sydney 2011". Archived from the original on 18 October 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  18. ^ "Grand Designs Australia Live is Coming to Melbourne". Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  19. ^ a b c d "BAFTA Awards Search". BAFTA.
  20. ^ "Bafta TV awards 2013: List of winners". BBC. 12 May 2013.
  21. ^ "Bafta TV awards 2014: Winners in full". BBC. 18 May 2014.
  22. ^ Hannah Furness (10 May 2015). "BBC's star shows are eclipsed at the Bafta Television awards 2015". The Daily Telegraph.
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